CWDS Bulletins

CWS-CARES Readiness & New County Advisory Committees – February 2026

End-date of Inactive CWS/CMS User Logins for CWS-CARES Readiness - UPDATE

All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

February 6, 2026 UPDATE: Based on received feedback, the reports are being updated for the following criteria:

Report criteria:

Identifies CWS/CMS user logins that have not been used in the past 180 days 

However, users are omitted from the report if they fall into one of these two categories:

  1. Have NOT logged into CWS/CMS within the previous 180 days, but HAVE logged into CARES-Live within the previous 180 days.
  2. The User ID has been created within the previous 90 days, and has NOT logged into CWS/CMS.

Updated reports, using the new criteria listed above, will be made available in SAFE in the FromOSI folder no later than 5:00 PM, on Friday, February 6, 2026, titled: 
SCR9039_END-DATE_USERID_2026-02-06.xlsx. 

Please use this updated report when reviewing the list of user logins identified for deactivation.

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To prepare for CWS-CARES Mock Cycles and Production Simulation, the CWS-CARES Project will begin an automated process to end-date inactive CWS/CMS user logins. This effort helps ensure that only active users are set up with access in CWS-CARES. 

This process identifies CWS/CMS user logins that have not been used in the past 180 days and schedules those logins to be end-dated. This is standard account cleanup intended to reduce inactive or outdated system access as counties prepare for CWS-CARES. 

What This Means for Counties 

  • This activity affects system access only. There are no impacts to caseloads, staff roles, office assignments, or authority. 
  • User logins associated with an active County License Case (CLC) are excluded from the report. 
  • All user accounts (active and inactive) will still be carried forward to CWS-CARES. 

County Review and Option to Exclude User Logins  

Counties will have an opportunity to review the list of user logins identified for deactivation. To accommodate staff on extended leave (such as administrative or maternity leave), counties may exclude up to 10 user logins from deactivation, if needed. 

A report will be available in SAFE in the FromOSI folder on February 2, 2026, titled: 
SCR9039_END-DATE_USERID_2026-02-02.xlsx. 

If your county wishes to exclude user logins: 

  1. Use the Excel file provided. 
  1. Keep only the rows (up to 10) for user logins you want excluded. 
  1. Do not modify the file layout or formatting. 
  1. Upload the file to SAFE in the ToOSI folder. 

If more than 10 exclusions are needed, please contact CWDS Customer Relations and include a brief explanation. 

Deadline: February 19 at 5:00 PM 
Files received after this deadline will not be accepted, and all user logins listed in the original report will be end-dated. 

Timing and Ongoing Process 

  • This first run will process and end-date User IDs on February 21, 2026. 
  • The 180-day inactivity threshold will remain in place through April 2026, giving counties additional time to review the list and adjust to new processes. 
  • Beginning May, the inactivity threshold will change to 90 days, consistent with CWS-CARES access policy and the Production Simulation environment. 
  • After February, this process will occur monthly until the transition to CWS-CARES: 
  • Reports will be posted after the first weekend of each month 
  • User logins will be deactivated during the fourth weekend of the month 
  • Counties will receive advance notice of specific dates 

Restoring a User Login 

If a user login is end-dated and later needs to be restored, counties may submit a Help Desk ticket to reinstate the existing login and associated staff access. 

Action Required 

  • Review the report of inactive CWS/CMS user logins when it becomes available in SAFE. 
  • Submit an exclusion file (if needed) by February 19 at 5:00 PM to prevent up to 10 user logins from being end-dated. 
  • No action is required if your county agrees with the list as provided. 

For questions or concerns, please contact the CWDS Customer Relations

CWS/CMS: Scheduled CAD / Business Objects Servers Maintenance

All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and CAD Contacts:

The CWDS Infrastructure team and the California Department of Technology (CDT) have scheduled maintenance for the CAD/Business Objects (BO) servers. The maintenance windows are scheduled for the following environments:

Training environment:

Tuesday, February 10, 2026, beginning at 12:00 Noon and concluding at 4:00 PM

Production environment:

Tuesday, February 24, 2026, beginning at 12:00 Noon and concluding at 4:00 PM

CAD Business Objects (BO) / Business Intelligence (BI) will not be accessible during the scheduled maintenance windows. Any BO reports scheduled to run during this timeframe will be affected. The CWDS Infrastructure team recommends to either run all reports before 12:00 Noon on those dates, or on the night prior of these scheduled maintenance days.

Action Required

Review scheduled BO reports and reschedule report jobs to avoid the scheduled maintenance window. Rerun the missed report jobs, if necessary. Contact the IBM Help Desk (800-428-8268) to report any issues with your Business Objects content.

CWS/CMS: End-date of Inactive CWS/CMS User Logins for CWS-CARES Readiness

All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

To prepare for CWS-CARES Mock Cycles and Production Simulation, the CWS-CARES Project will begin an automated process to end-date inactive CWS/CMS user logins. This effort helps ensure that only active users are set up with access in CWS-CARES. 

This process identifies CWS/CMS user logins that have not been used in the past 180 days and schedules those logins to be end-dated. This is standard account cleanup intended to reduce inactive or outdated system access as counties prepare for CWS-CARES. 

What This Means for Counties 

  • This activity affects system access only. There are no impacts to caseloads, staff roles, office assignments, or authority. 
  • User logins associated with an active County License Case (CLC) are excluded from the report. 
  • All user accounts (active and inactive) will still be carried forward to CWS-CARES. 

County Review and Option to Exclude User Logins  

Counties will have an opportunity to review the list of user logins identified for deactivation. To accommodate staff on extended leave (such as administrative or maternity leave), counties may exclude up to 10 user logins from deactivation, if needed. 

A report will be available in SAFE in the FromOSI folder on February 2, 2026, titled: SCR9039_END-DATE_USERID_2026-02-02.xlsx. 

If your county wishes to exclude user logins: 

  1. Use the Excel file provided. 
  1. Keep only the rows (up to 10) for user logins you want excluded. 
  1. Do not modify the file layout or formatting. 
  1. Upload the file to SAFE in the ToOSI folder. 

If more than 10 exclusions are needed, please contact CWDS Customer Relations and include a brief explanation. 

Deadline: February 19 at 5:00 PM 
Files received after this deadline will not be accepted, and all user logins listed in the original report will be end-dated. 

Timing and Ongoing Process 

  • This first run will process and end-date User IDs on February 21, 2026. 
  • The 180-day inactivity threshold will remain in place through April 2026, giving counties additional time to review the list and adjust to new processes. 
  • Beginning May, the inactivity threshold will change to 90 days, consistent with CWS-CARES access policy and the Production Simulation environment. 
  • After February, this process will occur monthly until the transition to CWS-CARES: 
  • Reports will be posted after the first weekend of each month 
  • User logins will be deactivated during the fourth weekend of the month 
  • Counties will receive advance notice of specific dates 

Restoring a User Login 

If a user login is end-dated and later needs to be restored, counties may submit a Help Desk ticket to reinstate the existing login and associated staff access. 

Action Required 

  • Review the report of inactive CWS/CMS user logins when it becomes available in SAFE. 
  • Submit an exclusion file (if needed) by February 19 at 5:00 PM to prevent up to 10 user logins from being end-dated. 
  • No action is required if your county agrees with the list as provided. 

For questions or concerns, please contact the CWDS Customer Relations mailbox. 

CARES-Live 2.8.35 Production Release

All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

Effective January 29, 2026, CARES-Live 2.8.35 Release is Scheduled to Move into Production

The CARES-Live team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES-Live application. The release activity will begin at 5:00 PM on Thursday, January 29, 2026, and conclude on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 4:00 AM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes.

Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.

CARES-Live 2.8.35:

  • This release addresses security findings and other infrastructure updates and security patches not visible to CARES-Live users. 

Action Required

If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.

CWS-CARES Scheduled Maintenance - Feb 3, 2026 | 5PM - 8 PM

All Pilot County RFA Implementation Coordinators and SPOCs:

The CWS-CARES team has scheduled maintenance activity for the CWS-CARES production environment for Tuesday, February 3, 2026, beginning at 5:00 PM and concluding at 8:00 PM. During the maintenance window, the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process will be accessible for pilot counties Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara.

During the maintenance window, document related functionality in the CARES application will not be accessible.

Action Required

No action required from end-users during this maintenance window.

If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.

CWS-CARES Weekly Digest - January 26, 2026

CARES SPOCs, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

In this Weekly Digest (click the link for more information):

  • Final Reminder: Register for the CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefing #5

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Final Reminder: Register for the CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefing #5

Stakeholder Briefing #5 will take place on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon. Please forward this registration link and instructions to all organization staff and end users who may be impacted by the transition to CWS-CARES. View the agenda and register for the Stakeholder Briefing here: CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefing #5: January 2026 | Registration.

Registration Instructions for Stakeholder Briefing #5:

  • Register for the January 28, 2026 Stakeholder Briefing at this link: CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefing #5: January 2026 | Registration. Registration is required to attend.
  • After registering, you will receive a confirmation email from CalHHS Office of Technology and Solutions Integration within a few minutes. An example of the email is shown in the screenshot below.
  • This confirmation email includes the "Join event" link at the bottom (blue arrow in the screenshot) and a calendar .ics attachment at the top (red box in the screenshot).
  • Add the webinar to your calendar. The webinar will NOT be automatically added to your calendar. You must click the .ics attachment and manually add it to your calendar.

Please email Customer Relations at CWS_CustRel@otsi.ca.gov with any questions or if you need assistance registering for the January 28, 2026, Stakeholder Briefing.

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Share Your Feedback and Subscribe 

Thank you for following our progress! Share your feedback on this CWS-CARES Weekly Digest here: CWS-CARES Weekly Digest Feedback Form. Subscribe to future issues here: CWS-CARES Weekly Digest Subscription Form.

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Action Required

We request that all CWS-CARES Single Point of Contacts (SPOCs) and Implementation Coordinators coordinate and distribute the CWS-CARES Weekly Digest to all staff impacted by CWS-CARES, at their discretion.

CDT Service Desk Bulletin – Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers

All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Saturday, January 31, 2026, beginning at 6:00 AM and concluding at 10:00 AM. During the maintenance window, CDT will apply Standard Monthly OS Security Patches to SBCS Infrastructure Servers. There is no anticipated outage for this maintenance; however, CDT is asking that everyone log off from the Citrix SBC system, if not actively using it during the maintenance window.

Action Required

If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.

 

CDT Service Desk Bulletin – System Security Updates to SBCS Infrastructure Netscalers

All SPOCs, Technical Contacts, and SBC Administrators:

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, beginning at 6:00 PM and concluding at 10:00 PM. During the maintenance window, CDT will apply system security updates to SBCS Infrastructure Netscalers. CDT is informing everyone to log off from the Citrix SBC system during the maintenance window.

Action Required

If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.

CWS/CMS: Cancellation of CWS/CMS Release 9.7

All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

As stated in the communication sent by CWDS Customer Relations on December 23, 2025, the CWDS Executive Leadership Team has decided to cancel the CWS-CARES Production Pilot. In place of the Production Pilot, CWS-CARES will implement a Production Simulation environment.

The primary focus of CWS/CMS Release 9.7 was to enable IBM to deliver the technical solution required for the planned CWS-CARES Production Pilot. Since this activity is no longer needed for the newly planned CWS-CARES Production Simulation environment, CWS/CMS Release 9.7 is no longer required.

The next scheduled CWS/CMS release will be Release 9.8. The primary focus of this release is to add a mechanism that will allow CWS/CMS to be placed in a read-only state when CWS-CARES is implemented in October 2026. The CWDS Project is currently working with IBM to determine how many, if any, Data Quality improvement System Change Requests (SCRs) can be included with this release.

Release 9.8 is the projected final release for CWS/CMS. It is tentatively scheduled for implementation in June 2026. Further information will be announced as the release details are finalized.

Action Required

No action is required. Please forward any questions to CWDS Customer Relations.

CDT Service Desk Bulletin – SAFE Cloud Service Scheduled Maintenance

ALL SPOCs, Technical Contacts and CAD Contacts:

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled maintenance of the SAFE Cloud service. The maintenance begins on Saturday, January 24, 2026, at 8:00 PM and concludes on Sunday, January 25, 2026, at 2:00 AM. The activity will cause interruptions in the SAFE Cloud service. Some Business Objects (BO) reports will fail to send, or automated scripts may fail to retrieve from SAFE during this scheduled maintenance.

Action Required

All users should logoff of the SAFE Cloud service prior to the start of the stated maintenance timeframe. Please check on your scheduled BO SAFE reports and automated FTP scripts. If needed, re-run the reports and scripts.

Contact the IBM Help Desk (800-428-8268) to report any issues with your Business Objects content in SAFE.